Previous | Content | Next

Settings connected with time

You can change default time settings in the program such as time units and work schedule and also correct time of work completion.

• Project Start Date
• Changing schedule for Workspace
  • Default schedule
  • Working schedule
• Changing dates of task completion
  • Change date in the task list
  • Change time of task completion on the graphic part of the Chart
  • Change time of task completion in dialog Task information, tab General
• Customizing of timescale

Project Start Date

In ConceptDraw Project project Start Date is set. Basing on it, you can set start date for any new task, which is not a part of the phase. (The new task added to the phase takes project Start Date as the start date for itself). Project Start Date is set in dialog Change Project Properties.

To call the dialog you need to switch to Workspace Mode, and then use one of the following steps:

1. Use Project Properties in menu Workspace.
2. Use button Project Properties on the toolbar Workspace.
3. Select Project Properties from the context menu of the project.
4. Double-click on the project.

Closing the dialog, do not forget to press OK to save the changes.

Changing schedule for Workspace

Default schedule

Any Company or an enterprise works on a specific pre-set schedule. As a rule, work day and breaks start and finish at the same time. In ConceptDraw Project such a schedule is called default schedule. Most often, an average work day lasts no longer than 8 hours and has one lunch break. Depending on your needs, however, work day can be split into even more parts with more breaks, or you can remove breaks at all.

Default schedule is set in dialog Workspace Properties on tab Default Calendar.

Dialog Workspase Properties with tab Default Calendar can be called by one of the following steps:

1. Use Workspase Properties in Workspace menu. In the opened dialog Workspace Properties switch to tab Default Calendar.
2. Use button Workspase Properties on the toolbar Workspace. In the opened dialog Workspace Properties switch to tab Default Calendar.

In the dialog the following parameters are set:

• Working Weekdays: working and non-working days. Working days are marked in check-boxes.
• Default Working Time: working time and breaks. In the left cell Start Time of the part is set, in the right one – Finish Time. The difference between the Finish Time of one part and Start Time of the other is a work break. By default, a working day is divided into 2 parts with 1 lunch break, the program, however, allows to split a day in a voluntary number of parts from 1 to 5.

Below you can set the first weekday, the number of working hours per day and per week and the number of working days per month.

Task: set the following examples on the tab:

• Working Weekdays: days off – Saturday and Sunday. The rest weekdays are working days
• Default Working Time: 2 working parts – 10.00 – 14.00 and 15.00 – 19.00
• Week Start on: Monday
• Hours per Day: 8
• Hours per Week: 40
• Days per Month: 20

Working schedule

You may also need to set an individual schedule for some days, for instance, during the product release, for conferences and presentations, Company holidays. All these parameters can be set in Edit Calendar Dialog.

Edit Calendar Dialog can be called by one of the following steps:

1. Use Change Working Time in menu Workspace
2. Use button Change Working Time on the toolbar Workspace

The following parameters can be set in this dialog:

• Days with default working schedule.

Default schedule is set in dialog Default Calendar described above. Here settings are displayed only and days with default settings are specified. Select the needed day or days (by pressing Ctrl) and activate option Default.

You need this section only in case you want to assign default schedule to days for which individual schedule was assigned earlier.

• Days with individual schedule

Select the needed day or days (by pressing Ctrl) and activate option Nondefault Times. Set for the day(s) working time and breaks.

• Days off

By default days off are pre-set in dialog Default Calendar, however, each specific day’s status can be changed: it can be specified as a day off or a working day. Select the needed day (by pressing Ctrl) and activate option Nonworking Day.

Task: Set 10/21/04 as an individual schedule day (for task "Gather for the departure"), time 9.00-9.30.

Changing dates of task completion

Change date in the task list

Dates of task completion can be changed by several ways. Dates are changeable only for those tasks which are not phases, i.e. do not have subtasks. Dates of phases are defined automatically by the program.

One of the ways is to change date in the task list. To do this, double click on the cell with the date of needed task, an arrow appears in the right part of the cell. Click on it – calendar appears. Select the needed date in the calendar. The calendar will disappear, and the selected date will appear in the cell.

Note: Two parameters are set in the program: Start Date and Duration, and Finish Date is defined automatically by the program.

Task: Set August, 17 a Start Date for the task "Hire a bus to take people there and back" with duration – 1 day. For the task "Buy lacking equipment" set August, 17 a Start Date with duration – 3 days.

Change time of task completion on the graphic part of the Chart

Another way of setting needed time of task completion is manipulating time bars on the graphic part of the Chart. By shifting a time bar, you can change Finish and Start Dates of the task. By shifting the right edge of the time bar, you can change the Finish Date and time of task completion.

At shifting or changing of the bar length in accordance with WISIWIG conception, you will see half transparent outlines of shifting. This way you can easier figure out the present state of the bar and timely stop its shifting.

Task: Change the time of completion of the task "Buy food". Set the duration time equal to 2 days and move it to August, 19 and 20.

Change time of task completion in dialog Task information, tab General

Time of task completion can also be set in dialog Task Information on tab General.

The dialog can be called by the following steps:

1. Use Task Information in menu Tasks.
2. Call the context menu and select Task Information.
3. Use button Task Information on the toolbar Task.

Task duration is specified in field Duration, Start/Finish Dates – in section Dates, in fields Start and Finish.

Closing the dialog, do not forget to press OK, to save changes.

Task: Let’s call the dialog and set August, 13 Start and Finish Date for the task "Find out about the equipment on hand and the equipment to buy".
In our example, we also change dates for two more tasks by one of the above described ways: "Make up the list of participants", August, 2 – 4 and "Choose a place", August, 4 – 6.

Note: The time of the phase completion is defined automatically, basing on the completion time of the tasks included into the phase.

Customizing of timescale

The headline of the Chart’s graphic part is a timescale that consists of two lines: in the lower line more detailed measurement units are displayed, in the upper one – larger ones. By default in the lower part days are displayed, in the upper one – weeks. However, they can be changed, and set for each specific project.

Quick changing of the timescale can be done with the help of commands Zoom In and Zoom Out.
Zoom In shows detailed view of the timescale, thus decreasing measurement units by a level: for instance, it turns months into weeks, days into hours etc. Zoom Out, on the contrary, generalizes the scale, increasing measurement units: for instance, turns weeks into mоnths, hours into days etc.

These commands can be called by one of the following:

1. Use Zoom In or Zoom Out in menu View.
2. Use buttons Zoom In and Zoom Out on the toolbar View.

In such a way you can change the upper and the lower scales, only proportionally. For instance, we have weeks set on the upper scale, and days – on the lower one. By clicking once on Zoom In, days will be set on the upper scale, hours – on the lower one. Disproportional changing of measurement units is possible in dialog Timescale.

The dialog is called by one of the following steps:

1. Use Timescale in menu View.
2. Double-click on the Timescale in the Chart’s graphic part.

The following parameters are set in the dialog:
In section Top tier formatting settings for the upper part of timescale are displayed:

• Units – time units. The following units are available: year, half a year, quarter, month, third of month, day, hour, minute.

• Align – text aligning (to the left side, to the right side or by center).

In section Bottom tier formatting settings for the lower part of timescale:

• Units – the same as in the upper section.
• Count – the periodicity the units are shown (every unit, every other unit, every third …)
• Align – settings are done similarly to the upper section.

Previous | Content | Next